ghost ship

[claymore]

what happened to the Marie Celeste after it was found abandoned

[Octavius]

The 'Mary Celeste' did not enjoy a good fate after being recovered, she became regarded as a ship that seamen, and owners wished to avoid. She changed hands frequently. Twelve years later she sailed from Boston with a mixed cargo and was wrecked off the coast of Haiti apparently by her subsequent owners to cash in on her insurance.

Additional info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Celeste#Fat e_of_the_ship

[paddywak]

If you have Sky keep an eye on the documentaries, as one deals with this subject. I'm not sure but I think ot's The Seahunters

[jno]

the correct name is as Octavius gives it, Mary not Marie

[Count_Emmup]

The real story of the 'Mary Celeste' was in a documentary repeated on Sky only the other day.

Apparently her sole cargo was barrels of industrial alcohol, which somehow ignited, when the hatches were opened there was a great "Woosh" of flames so the Captain his wife and babies, and the small crew abandonded ship.

They took to the ships tender which was attached to the main vessel by a thick line, which after towing them some distance, broke. The Mary Celste drifted on and once the spirit burned out the flames died without igniting the vessel, but the doomed ships company was unable to reach her, as she was still under sail.

At the time this was all pretty well accepted (and documented) by the US Marine Authorities. It was many years after that the renowned writer Arthur Conan Doyle got wind of the story and re-worked it into a great mystery yarn, which he got published in the "Strand Gazette", I think.

[Count_Emmup]

Of course it was he who renamed it, too!